


Reflections of the Lion

by blackgoldberry



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Drama, Gen, Politics, Tyrion actually has some sense here, Varys gets what's coming to him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 09:17:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18736120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackgoldberry/pseuds/blackgoldberry
Summary: What if Tyrion actually reflected on his mistakes and did the right thing for his Queen? Takes place during 8.04.





	Reflections of the Lion

Tyrion could hardly believe the words that Varys had spoken, but spoken them he had. He retired to his chambers, his heard hurting and wishing for another cup of wine, but deciding he needed to do without it.

Tyrion had prided himself on his mind, but deep down he knew that he had failed his Queen. He had been torn between the strand of familial bond to Cersei and his loyalty to his Queen. He had always wanted the affection of his family, and he had it from Jaime. But his father and Cersei had always denied him that right. They looked upon him with hate and scorned and mocked his abilities at every turn. He had done his best to serve their House and he had been diminished and sentenced to death all because his father couldn't bear the thought that his son was a dwarf.

He clenched his fist as he grit his teeth. He had a mind, and he had to learn from his mistakes. How could he be Hand of the Queen and fail Daenerys like this? He remembered the story of Daenerys and her vile brother, Viserys. How he had mistreated her and sold her and had threatened to cut her unborn child out of her. He had been given a crown of gold before Daenerys' own eyes and she had done nothing in his defense. He felt fury bubble within him. She had known the truth of her relationship with her brother and knew that he had deserved his fate and here he sat with some foreign sentimentality for his sister. He had to find the strength and do the right thing.

He stared into the small lit fire in his chambers. And Varys, an old friend, even if sly and somewhat treacherous when it suited him. He wanted to serve the realm and the common people, but the more Tyrion thought about it, the more it troubled him. Varys thought that Jon was a better ruler, even though Jon didn't want the throne. Have you considered that the best ruler might be someone who doesn't want to rule? But who was Robert Baratheon if he wasn't such a King? And how that turned out? A drunken fool that sent the realm into enormous debt, ignored his children, mistreated his wife, and didn't give a shit about the common people. And Varys was there through it all, so what did he mean? Tyrion didn't think that Jon was Robert Baratheon, but the point remained that he was not interested in the Iron Throne, so what was Varys end here?

He rose to his feet and began to pace a bit. No, Varys wasn't right. He was wrong. Tyrion had been wrong and he must rectify his mistakes and make sure that Varys could do no harm to Daenerys. Tyrion remembered when Varys had brought Daenerys to his attention and he had been skeptical, but when he saw her and the way she ruled, he knew the claims about her to be true. So what was Varys other than a fickle man? Daenerys had taken several enormous losses and she still heeded their council. And if their original plan had worked, people would have died anyway, just by starvation. He closed his eyes. Seven Hells! Why didn't he let Daenerys take the Red Keep from the beginning? There would have been fewer casualties, but now there would be a higher cost. His sister wasn't fit to serve the throne. She had blown up a sept full of innocent people to get her way. She knowingly sired bastards with their brother, knowing that if the truth got out (and it did) that there would be chaos in the realm.

He stopped pacing and his resolve hardened. He left his chambers and made his way to the Queen's, whose door was guarded. The guards let him aside, but all the same, Tyrion knocked upon the door. After a moment or so, the door opened and there stood Daenerys, her violet eyes boring into him with an intensity that was intimidating yet suitable in a monarch. She had retired and wore a dressing robe of soft grey. Her glorious silver-gold hair fell in waves down her back and Tyrion found himself once again struck by her Targaryen beauty. Jon Snow was a lucky man.

"What is it?"

"A word alone your grace?" He met her gaze even if he was somewhat uncomfortable. "It is a matter of great importance."

She stared at him for a few more seconds, before nodding and letting him in. He strode in and she shut the door behind them, before motioning to a seat at the writing-table in her chambers. She sat on an elaborate bed stool that resided in front of her bed and gave him a look that suggested he get on with it.

"I have failed your grace," he began quietly trying to summon the courage to find the words. "I have always prided myself on my intelligence, yet my advice has cost you a great deal of trouble."

Daenerys said nothing, and Tyrion felt his stomach twist, but he continued: "Yes, I want to serve you and see you on the Iron Throne, but you speak the truth when you speak of my relationship with my family."

"Continue," the Queen said, and he could see a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"I have always tried to serve my house as best as I could, even though my father and Cersei despised me. As you know, I killed my father, and I thought that it would be of little consequence to see my sister brought to ruin and death." He grimaced. "But it's not entirely true. I have always hated Cersei and yet I pitied her and knew she wasn't a monster."

He took a deep breath. "But all the same, I have chosen to follow you and serve you, if you will still have me of course, and therefore I must tell you two things of great importance?"

"What would you have me do?"

"Take the red keep and burn it to the ground. Take Cersei out, root and stem as you suggested. If we had followed your original advice, you could have taken the throne with less casualties. I fear now, there will be more, but starving them out will have the same results: death."

"That is your advice?" Her silver brow furrowed. "I thought the goal of the siege and starvation was to turn the people against Cersei Lannister."

"Cersei Lannister was Queen Consort to Robert Baratheon for seventeen years, and was Queen Regent a good deal after the fact. She was petty, cruel, and arrogant. She defended Joffrey as he committed atrocities, and committed them herself when she blew up the Sept of Baelor." He felt the lion within him come out. "The people should have already turned against her."

Daenerys studied him for several long minutes and it was Tyrion could do not to squirm like a child that had been caught red-headed stealing apple cakes.

"Ser Jorah was right about you it seems," she said after some time. Tyrion was startled at her words. "He told me that you learned from your mistakes and it seems you have." She smiled faintly, no doubt remembering her words with the fallen man.

"And you are not the only one at fault," she continued thoughtfully. "A Queen should know when to listen and when to ignore the advice given to her. Lady Olenna once counseled me to be a dragon and she was right." Her gaze hardened and Tyrion felt a thrill. "Westeros will know this in the end."

Tyrion smiled at her before he continued. "There is another matter, your grace."

"What?"

"Varys." Tyrion frowned as he thought upon how he would put it to his Queen. Her expression darkened somewhat and he knew this wasn't going to be a light conversation.

"What of him?"

"He isn't loyal, and I believe he will conspire to replace you on the throne."

The Queen's eyes blazed with fire and she rose to her feet. "With whom?" She demanded.

"Jon Snow."

Her expression turned into a mixture of pure shock and fury. "Jon?" She hissed out, her hands turning into fists.

"Yes, Sansa has informed me that Jon Snow wasn't Ned Stark's bastard, but the legitimate offspring of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark."

"And I told Jon that it was a folly to trust her!" Daenerys thundered and this time Tyrion was taken aback.

"You knew your grace?"

"Of course I did," she said sourly. "Jon told me before the battle with the dead."

Tyrion groaned. That was Jon Snow alright. And it explained why there had been some distance between the two lately.

"And whom did you tell Tyrion?"

"I sought Varys counsel on the matter, but I spoke of it to no one else as we didn't want word spreading."

"And what changed?"

"Varys now thinks that Jon would make the better ruler, he has rebuffed even the suggestion of a marriage between the two of you to unite your claims." Tyrion frowned. "I don't know what has gotten into him, he thinks Jon would be the better ruler even though Jon doesn't want it, and we have already lived under the rule of a man didn't want the throne and that was Robert Baratheon."

"He seeks to conspire behind my back even though he told me wouldn't do so," Daenerys said softly. "He didn't make good on his promise, but I will make good on mine." She turned on her heel and opened the front door and addressed the guards. "Find Lord Varys and bring him to me in the great hall."

"Go and wait for me in the great hall," the Queen ordered him before turning away from him.

Tyrion bowed and did as he was bid. He knew he did the right thing but his heart was heavy for Varys. Why did he have to be such a fool?

The great hall was dark, so he summoned a servant to lighten it a bit. He waited at the base of the steps to the chair that belonged to the Prince of Dragonstone. It wasn't long before he saw Daenerys enter the room, wearing one of her more recent Targaryen looks, with a black mantle like dress that reached her calves and great red cloak that was shaped and threaded to look like dragon scales hung from her left shoulder and was fastened with a great dragon brooch of silver. Her hair remained loose though he could see that it had been brushed and her eyes blazed with fire. She took her seat on the chair and waited until the guards brought Varys before them.

Varys was dragged in and shoved to the floor in front of Daenerys. He looked up and his eyes met Tyrion's. There was a look of disappointment, anger, and betrayal in them but there was still a look of defiance in them as well.

"Your grace, I must protest," Varys started when Daenerys cut him off.

"Yes, I know you protest Varys," she said, her voice laced with authority and regality. "You protest so much that you seek to supplant me with Jon Snow."

Varys stared at her for several moments before he slowly stood to his feet. His face hardened and Tyrion bit back a groan. He was a fool. He hadn't ever thought of Varys that way, but he was a fool.

"I made it clear that I served the realm your grace and it's people." Varys said passionately.

"By backing one ruler and then conspiring to dethrone him with the next. By serving Robert Baratheon, who didn't want the throne and made a great mess of things, by serving Joffrey, a cruel and petty tyrant, and by serving my father for nigh on years," the Queen said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"You served those men willingly and you tell me you serve the interests of the people?" She let out a slight laugh. There was nothing happy about it and Tyrion shivered to hear it.

"Sometimes you have to do things to survive," Varys countered and Daenerys tilted her head slightly.

"Or maybe, maybe you aren't a good judge of who is fit for the iron throne and you don't really care about the common people," she tsked but then let out a sigh and rose to her feet.

"You broke your word Varys," she said, and Tyrion could see a hint of sadness in her eyes. Inwardly he cursed himself for ever daring to question her sanity. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Daenerys was no Aerys, she was a woman and queen, and had every bit of complexity as any many that came before her.

"But I won't break mine." She nodded to the guards and Varys was seized and dragged from the throne room. The Queen walked down the steps and out the chamber, taking a lit torch with her, and Tyrion followed her as they eventually came out in the dark, castle grounds.

They reached a great mass that rested on the grass that could be none other than Drogon. As the guards neared, Drogon began to wake at the disturbance. His great eyes flickered open and gazed upon his mother, who stroked his great snout. Tyrion had a thought that perhaps he could suggest taking the black for Varys but then thought it was a poor idea. Varys had made it clear that he had no problems scheming and such a man wouldn't serve the Night's Watch. He had made his choice and now he must face the consequences for it.

Drogon rose onto his hind legs, letting out a great roar as Varys was brought before him. The guards stepped back, and the eunuch tried to stead himself, though Tyrion could tell he was afraid.

"Lord Varys," The Queen began coolly. "I, Daenerys of House Targaryen, first of my name, breaker of chains, and mother of dragons, sentence you to die." There was a brief moment before she said the word that meant death for any who crossed her. "Dracarys."

Flames erupted from Drogon's mouth and consumed Varys who let out a great scream and writhed and flailed before his screams died and he became nothing but ash.

"Tyrion," Daenerys began and Tyrion looked up. "I will bring fire and blood to your sister, and I will also deal with Sansa Stark." Tyrion closed his eyes but nodded. He should have realized that Sansa was playing him the moment she gave him such vital information, but once again Daenerys had the intelligence that was necessary for a ruler to see what Sansa's true play was.

"Yes, your grace," he said, sinking to his knee in deference. He had chosen her and by the old gods and new, Daenerys Targaryen was the Queen the Seven Kingdoms needed.


End file.
